Deaths from Ebola virus continue to rise in Guinea

Healthcare worker disinfects areas where cases of deaths from Ebola have been reported. WHO Photo

The number of people who have died in Guinea and neighbouring countries has risen to 66 according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The UN agency reported a further 103 suspected and confirmed cases and warned that there could be many more.

Gregory Hartl, from WHO said that the outbreak of the infection had been traced to Guinea.

“All the cases that we know of so far have an epidemiological link with Guinea although they have been registered in neighbouring countries, these appear to all be linked to Guinea at the moment. But again, the contact tracing is far from complete and we are working on getting a lot more people on the ground in order to do the contact tracing, the follow up, the infection control, lab testing.” (26″)

There are five distinct strains of the Ebola virus which cause severe haemorrhagic fever with fatality rates of up to 90 per cent.

There are no known cures or preventative vaccines, although outbreaks don’t generally lead to large scale infections.